Ruha Benjamin
@ruha9.bsky.social
✍🏽 • RACE AFTER TECHNOLOGY: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code • VIRAL JUSTICE: How We Grow the World We Want • IMAGINATION: A Manifesto 📚www.ruhabenjamin.com
Pinned
Ruha Benjamin
@ruha9.bsky.social
· Oct 18
The New Artificial Intelligentsia | Los Angeles Review of Books
In the fifth essay of the Legacies of Eugenics series, Ruha Benjamin explores how AI evangelists wrap their self-interest in a cloak of humanistic concern.
lareviewofbooks.org
My latest on “The New Artificial Intelligentsia,” part of the Legacies of Eugenics series in the Los Angeles Review of Books. Thanks to all who read + share! lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-...
Reposted by Ruha Benjamin
We condemn the illegal invasion of Venezuela, and we condemn the fossil fuel corruption that led us here. Young people — once again — are the ones that oil billionaires will feed into the meatgrinder of an unjust, imperialist war.
January 3, 2026 at 9:17 PM
We condemn the illegal invasion of Venezuela, and we condemn the fossil fuel corruption that led us here. Young people — once again — are the ones that oil billionaires will feed into the meatgrinder of an unjust, imperialist war.
“The following is how I explain my AI policy to my technology-ethics class, to help get their buy-in at the very start.”
emergingethics.substack.com/p/why-were-n...
emergingethics.substack.com/p/why-were-n...
Why We’re Not Using AI in This Course, Despite Its Obvious Benefits
A reading for your students
emergingethics.substack.com
January 2, 2026 at 2:35 AM
“The following is how I explain my AI policy to my technology-ethics class, to help get their buy-in at the very start.”
emergingethics.substack.com/p/why-were-n...
emergingethics.substack.com/p/why-were-n...
Reposted by Ruha Benjamin
Starting 2026 off right with @thestorygraph.com's January Pages Challenge and @ruha9.bsky.social ✨
#BookSky
#BookSky
January 1, 2026 at 12:54 PM
Starting 2026 off right with @thestorygraph.com's January Pages Challenge and @ruha9.bsky.social ✨
#BookSky
#BookSky
Here u go! bsky.app/profile/ruha...
“There is a reason, after all, that some people wish to colonize the moon, and others dance before it as before an ancient friend.” —Baldwin’s words grounded my Tanner lectures at Harvard, “Imagining Beyond the Artificial Intelligentsia”🤖
Lecture 1, Who Owns the Future? youtu.be/ZseJigkUhuE?...
Lecture 1, Who Owns the Future? youtu.be/ZseJigkUhuE?...
Tanner Lecture One with Ruha Benjamin
YouTube video by Mahindra Humanities Center
youtu.be
January 1, 2026 at 5:06 AM
Here u go! bsky.app/profile/ruha...
Reposted by Ruha Benjamin
"The question for the Luddites was never simply whether to accept or reject a new machine, but rather who controlled it, how it was deployed, and whose interests it served. . .
“Accepting this story of AI’s inevitability — or that of any technology — is a grave mistake for educators. Not only does it cede tremendous power to tech companies that are unaccountable to teachers, students, or school communities…” 1/2
kappanonline.org/teach-like-a...
kappanonline.org/teach-like-a...
Teach like a Luddite - Kappan Online
Embracing new technologies that don’t advance teaching and learning is a mistake. Educators must ask questions — and resist when necessary.
kappanonline.org
December 29, 2025 at 6:42 PM
"The question for the Luddites was never simply whether to accept or reject a new machine, but rather who controlled it, how it was deployed, and whose interests it served. . .
“…but it also forces us into a position where we are adapting our professional practices to the latest tool rather than letting our pedagogical goals determine which technologies, and which uses of them, belong in our classrooms.” 2/2
December 29, 2025 at 6:41 PM
“…but it also forces us into a position where we are adapting our professional practices to the latest tool rather than letting our pedagogical goals determine which technologies, and which uses of them, belong in our classrooms.” 2/2
“Accepting this story of AI’s inevitability — or that of any technology — is a grave mistake for educators. Not only does it cede tremendous power to tech companies that are unaccountable to teachers, students, or school communities…” 1/2
kappanonline.org/teach-like-a...
kappanonline.org/teach-like-a...
Teach like a Luddite - Kappan Online
Embracing new technologies that don’t advance teaching and learning is a mistake. Educators must ask questions — and resist when necessary.
kappanonline.org
December 29, 2025 at 6:40 PM
“Accepting this story of AI’s inevitability — or that of any technology — is a grave mistake for educators. Not only does it cede tremendous power to tech companies that are unaccountable to teachers, students, or school communities…” 1/2
kappanonline.org/teach-like-a...
kappanonline.org/teach-like-a...
Reposted by Ruha Benjamin
NEW: Data Centers, the Climate Crisis, and Community Defense
How Local Activists are Interrupting Big Tech AI Investments
unicornriot.ninja/2025/data-ce...
How Local Activists are Interrupting Big Tech AI Investments
unicornriot.ninja/2025/data-ce...
Data Centers, the Climate Crisis, and Community Defense - UNICORN RIOT
As Trump’s Energy Secretary Chris Wright claims you should “build data centers” if “you want low electricity prices,” more than 200 environmental organizations have joined to “demand a halt to the bui...
unicornriot.ninja
December 20, 2025 at 12:05 AM
NEW: Data Centers, the Climate Crisis, and Community Defense
How Local Activists are Interrupting Big Tech AI Investments
unicornriot.ninja/2025/data-ce...
How Local Activists are Interrupting Big Tech AI Investments
unicornriot.ninja/2025/data-ce...
Reposted by Ruha Benjamin
A social sciences and humanities reading list on AI in education 🧵
February 9, 2025 at 12:00 AM
A social sciences and humanities reading list on AI in education 🧵
Reposted by Ruha Benjamin
Israel is still bombing Gaza
The press isn't covering it as much but it's still happening
The press isn't covering it as much but it's still happening
December 2, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Israel is still bombing Gaza
The press isn't covering it as much but it's still happening
The press isn't covering it as much but it's still happening
Reposted by Ruha Benjamin
If you’re looking for Palestinian speculative fiction for #ReadPalestine week, I got you: soniasulaiman.com/readpalestin...
Read Palestinian Speculative Fiction Reading List
The following is a growing reading list for the #ReadPalestinianSpecFic challenge. This is a work in progress to create a list of all available Palestinian speculative fiction. Novels: Novels by Na…
soniasulaiman.com
November 29, 2025 at 4:55 PM
If you’re looking for Palestinian speculative fiction for #ReadPalestine week, I got you: soniasulaiman.com/readpalestin...
ps. writing is my way of metabolizing so that these everyday encounters don’t stay in my body and make me sick, so thx for reading🤲🏾
December 3, 2025 at 10:56 PM
ps. writing is my way of metabolizing so that these everyday encounters don’t stay in my body and make me sick, so thx for reading🤲🏾
Better yet, ACT up… like beloved Ms. Satterfield, who has experienced the absolute worst and best of this town and continues to be a beacon for so many of us. www.princetonmagazine.com/shirley-satt...
up.like
December 3, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Better yet, ACT up… like beloved Ms. Satterfield, who has experienced the absolute worst and best of this town and continues to be a beacon for so many of us. www.princetonmagazine.com/shirley-satt...
As Toni Cade urged us: “Don’t leave the arena to the fools.”
So speak up, good people, speak up.
So speak up, good people, speak up.
December 3, 2025 at 10:56 PM
As Toni Cade urged us: “Don’t leave the arena to the fools.”
So speak up, good people, speak up.
So speak up, good people, speak up.
Importantly, those who witnessed the “anti-Semitic” moment looked shell shocked, embarrassed, or oblivious. But none intervened.
Too often, it seems, the malicious are assertive and the good are demure.
Too often, it seems, the malicious are assertive and the good are demure.
December 3, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Importantly, those who witnessed the “anti-Semitic” moment looked shell shocked, embarrassed, or oblivious. But none intervened.
Too often, it seems, the malicious are assertive and the good are demure.
Too often, it seems, the malicious are assertive and the good are demure.
He was followed by someone who shared a fundraiser flyer for the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund that his grandkids are helping to organize.
And the remaining convos were uneventful.
And the remaining convos were uneventful.
December 3, 2025 at 10:56 PM
He was followed by someone who shared a fundraiser flyer for the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund that his grandkids are helping to organize.
And the remaining convos were uneventful.
And the remaining convos were uneventful.
Then I turned to the next person, who assured me in hushed tones, “Not ALL of us share his views…” followed by a question about how to address AI with his five grandkids.
December 3, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Then I turned to the next person, who assured me in hushed tones, “Not ALL of us share his views…” followed by a question about how to address AI with his five grandkids.
“You’re fired” guy cut in front of other pol waiting to talk n I was determined not to let him steal my attn + energy. So I replied:
“We disagree.” Then checked his name tag, “I’ll be sure to tell the university you said I shld be fired.”
(So many things I thought about saying after the fact😶)
“We disagree.” Then checked his name tag, “I’ll be sure to tell the university you said I shld be fired.”
(So many things I thought about saying after the fact😶)
December 3, 2025 at 10:56 PM
“You’re fired” guy cut in front of other pol waiting to talk n I was determined not to let him steal my attn + energy. So I replied:
“We disagree.” Then checked his name tag, “I’ll be sure to tell the university you said I shld be fired.”
(So many things I thought about saying after the fact😶)
“We disagree.” Then checked his name tag, “I’ll be sure to tell the university you said I shld be fired.”
(So many things I thought about saying after the fact😶)
YALL. I was debating whether to even post this story, but then I realized I accidentally recorded this conversation!?Which I *never* have the foresight to do in these moments, and so I take it as a sign, or at least a nudge, that I’m supposed to share this ‘day in a life’ encounter with you.
December 3, 2025 at 10:56 PM
YALL. I was debating whether to even post this story, but then I realized I accidentally recorded this conversation!?Which I *never* have the foresight to do in these moments, and so I take it as a sign, or at least a nudge, that I’m supposed to share this ‘day in a life’ encounter with you.
Then, like clockwork, one of the first people to elbow forward after the talk followed the predictable script:
“You mentioned Gaza + Palestine, but no Hamas?! You’re anti-Semitic! And you shouldn’t have been put on probation—you should’ve been fired.”
“You mentioned Gaza + Palestine, but no Hamas?! You’re anti-Semitic! And you shouldn’t have been put on probation—you should’ve been fired.”
December 3, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Then, like clockwork, one of the first people to elbow forward after the talk followed the predictable script:
“You mentioned Gaza + Palestine, but no Hamas?! You’re anti-Semitic! And you shouldn’t have been put on probation—you should’ve been fired.”
“You mentioned Gaza + Palestine, but no Hamas?! You’re anti-Semitic! And you shouldn’t have been put on probation—you should’ve been fired.”
But to my surprise I was greeted with interested nods, audible affirmations, periodic claps, and thoughtful questions. Kudos to the Old Guard!
December 3, 2025 at 10:56 PM
But to my surprise I was greeted with interested nods, audible affirmations, periodic claps, and thoughtful questions. Kudos to the Old Guard!
• Bringing it full circle to Phoenix of Gaza XR—Palestinian technologists using immersive storytelling to resist violent erasure (see gazaxr.com)
December 3, 2025 at 10:56 PM
• Bringing it full circle to Phoenix of Gaza XR—Palestinian technologists using immersive storytelling to resist violent erasure (see gazaxr.com)
• Linking that technology companies’ role in past atrocities, including IBM’s facilitation of the Nazi Holocaust
December 3, 2025 at 10:56 PM
• Linking that technology companies’ role in past atrocities, including IBM’s facilitation of the Nazi Holocaust
So, at the Old Guard, I was expecting some predictable pushback to my discussion of:
• Smart weapons obliterating Palestinian life (see www.commondreams.org/news/big-tec...)
• Smart weapons obliterating Palestinian life (see www.commondreams.org/news/big-tec...)
December 3, 2025 at 10:56 PM
So, at the Old Guard, I was expecting some predictable pushback to my discussion of:
• Smart weapons obliterating Palestinian life (see www.commondreams.org/news/big-tec...)
• Smart weapons obliterating Palestinian life (see www.commondreams.org/news/big-tec...)